Mosquito, Indian River lagoons home to different groups

8:15 PM,
Nov. 6, 2013

Researchers have identified two families of lagoon dolphins.

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Bottlenose dolphins play out a Romeo and Juliet-like drama of sorts in the Indian River Lagoon, with these marine Montagues and Capulets long separated by land but reunited by the construction of the Haulover Canal.

Researchers for the first time have identified two genetically distinct families of lagoon dolphins: one in Mosquito Lagoon, the other in the Indian River Lagoon system. They look the same. But their DNA reveals a divide with a distinct genetic split near Haulover Canal. The two groups often swim the same waters and can interbreed, but may have only been doing so since the canal - ...